One-Pot Southwestern Chicken and Quinoa Skillet

One-pan meals are a mom’s best friend. This mom’s, anyways. Especially on busy weeknights when the thought of cooking a meal for five seems daunting, and there are activities to get to. What’s even better is when the one pan meal contains simple and nutritious ingredients that I already have on hand! And the biggest bonus of one-pan meals, in my mind, is that it cuts down on the clean-up, something that I feel like I’m constantly doing as a Mom.

My new year’s resolution is to simplify my life as much as possible, and part of that is planning our family meals out a bit better, and choosing recipes that are as simple as possible to throw together (but still healthy and delicious). So, for the next few months, I’m on a mission to create a collection of easy, family-friendly recipes that I can add to our supper rotation, and share with other like-minded parents.

When I’m making a one-pan meal, I don’t really want to mess around with with sides–I want everything to be included in the one dish. So I try my best to make sure there are three components:

After I’ve made sure to include those core components, I add the fat (such as oil), spices and extras that best compliment the ingredients, such as olive oil, garlic, ginger, child powder etc. This usually renders a well-balanced and delicious meal.

Here’s my first addition to my new collection: Easy and Healthy Mexican Skillet. You will want to make this recipe over and over again because it’s so easy and so delicious. And there’s usually enough left for another meal or two!

Because there weren’t many vegetables in this dish, I did serve it with a salad, which was relatively easy!

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken cooked and shredded

1 can black beans, rinsed

1 can corn, rinsed

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 cup rinsed quinoa

1 cup salsa

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 tbsp favourite Mexican/Southwestern spices

2 cups shredded cheese

1/3 cup diced green onion

Instructions:

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil and heat for about 10 seconds before adding the chicken, back beans, corn, quinoa, salsa, spices, and chicken broth.

Stir well, cover and bring to a full boil. Once it has reached a boil, remove lid, stir and reduce heat to a simmer right away (medium-low) for approximately 30 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender and most of the liquid.

Remove lid, give it a gentle stir and sprinkled shredded cheese and green onion on top. Allow cheese to melt before serving. Add guacamole, extra salsa and/or sour cream and serve with a salad or raw veggies and dip!

For more easy recipes, and lots of nutrition tips for moms and kids, check out my Facebook page and Instagram feed, where I post daily!

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Comments

I just made this recipe tonight. It was delicious! The chicken I had was two thawed breasts so I diced that and browned it in the oil before adding the other ingredients. I also added 1/4 onion and 1 /2 can green chilies. For the seasoning I used a mix of garlic powder chili powder and cumin, so it was lower in sodium. This will be a keeper!

Sarah, this was a fabulous recipe – a BIG hit with all three of my kids. I added 1 tbsp of chili powder and cumin each and tossed in some fresh spinach right at the end. It was really delish and so easy – thank you!

This was great! Because we just made your Mexican Taco in a Pan last week we substituted black beans and used white kidney beans. We also used ground chicken vs diced.. Adding a chopped pepper, and cilantro and avacado for garnish was also yummy. Thank you for the ideas! 🙂